Monday, May 17, 2010

Gift cards, donations, and coupons

The weekend yielded three days of giving, and each day was something different.
 
Day 12.  A few years ago, we were blessed to meet a wonderful woman at our son's school who has truly been someone who made a difference in him having a successful middle school experience.  As it turns out, we know her husband as well and often run into them at the local warehouse store.  Our son has only a few more weeks at this school, so we wanted to do something for her ... we know that without her taking a particular interest in him, his experience at the school would've been different, and not in a good way.  My Day 12 giving is a gift card to the warehouse store.
 
Day 13.  As we were driving into town for our weekend errands, the Shriners were out in force collecting donations for the Shriner's Children's Hospitals. Thankfully we've never needed their services, but we know how important they are for families that do. I dug into my purse and made a donation from my car window.
 
Day 14.  I'm frugal to some degree, and if there's a coupon to be had for something, I usually know about it.  On Sundays, we go to a local Mexican restaurant for lunch.  Sometimes they have coupons in the MiniMint, but the only one we can use is for the free cup of queso. They have another one that is $5 off $25, but we never spend that much for our lunch.  On Day 14, we saw some folks we know from church who were having a family dinner.  Mom, Dad, both their grown sons, their spouses, their children, and a friend.  We chatted with them for a few minutes and then after we went back to the table, I realized that they just might be able to take advantage of the coupon.  So I gave it to them.  After we were done, they were leaving at the same time as us, and as it turned out, one of the sons was able to use it not just for his family but because he was picking up the check for the friend (who is a college student).  He told me afterwards thanks for the coupon because it pretty much covered the lunch for her that they were going to get for her. So it was a gift that gave a bit more!
 
Two weeks in, two weeks to go.

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